Anti-personnel mine
An anti-personnel mine ( anti-personnel mine , protecting mine , commonly Tretmine ) is a land mine , which is used against humans. Their explosive power is insufficient to damage armored vehicles and is aimed at killing or injuring the enemy in order to tie up resources and demoralize the enemy by supplying them. Anti-personnel mines are mostly triggered by the person they are acting against. You can neither distinguish between soldier and civilian nor between friend and enemy (see also: Friendly Fire ).
ostracism
On April 16, 1996, Volker Rühe , German Federal Defense Minister from 1992 to 1998, declared that regardless of the outcome of the UN Landmine Conference in Geneva , the Federal Armed Forces would forego so-called anti-personnel mines in future. State budget funds would no longer be made available for the development, testing and procurement of anti-personnel mines.
Anti-personnel mines are now internationally outlawed. The Ottawa Convention from 1997, which has been ratified by 164 states (March 2019), prohibits use, production, storage and resale. So far, the convention has not been signed by, among others, the USA , India , Pakistan , Israel , the People's Republic of China and Russia .
Special initiatives are
Producers
The large European industrialized countries have now abandoned the production of anti-personnel mines. Anti-personnel mines can be produced inexpensively and are now also manufactured by small businesses in many crisis regions of the world based on the example of American or Russian prototypes or are imported cheaply from old stocks.
In 2004/05 anti-rifle mines were manufactured in 13 countries (in 1990 there were 54 countries): Myanmar, China, India, Iran, Cuba, Nepal, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, USA, Vietnam.
During the same period (2004/05), anti-personnel mines were used by three state armies: Myanmar, Nepal and Russia.
At the same time, around 40 non-state combat troops laid anti-personnel mines in 13 countries. These groups are difficult to reach through international prohibition treaties.
Types
Anti-rifle mines differ mainly in shape, effect and trigger mechanism. They can be divided into the following categories:
- Pressure mines ( Blast Mines ): Triggered by direct occurrence, mostly round or rectangular shape, or special shapes such as e.g. B. Butterfly mines . Widespread printing mines are z. B. the Russian PMN mines or the Yugoslav PMA models ( PMA-1 , PMA-2 and PMA-3 ). Pressure mines work almost exclusively through explosives, in rare cases also through shaped charges, such as B. the Canadian-British Elsie C3 or the Yugoslav PNM-2 "Goražde".
- Stock mines ( Fragmentation Mines ): Triggered by direct incidence and / or trip wire. They consist almost exclusively of a metal splinter body that is placed on a wooden or aluminum peg. Well-known stick mines are, for example, the Russian POMZ models (POMZ, POMZ-2, POMZ-2M), the Yugoslav PMR models (PMR-1, PMR-2 , PMR-3 , PMR-4) and the Vietnamese P40 (Apple- , or called ball mine).
- Bounding mine ( Bouncing Fragmentation Mines ): Triggered by direct occurrence, trip wire or electrical remote detonation. They usually consist of a cylindrical metal body which is thrown into the air after being triggered and detonates there under the effect of splinters. The best-known representatives of this type of mine are the German S-mines (S-Mine 35, S-Mine 44), the Russian OZM models (OZM-3, OZM-4, OZM-72) and the American M-16 .
- Indicative mines ( Directional Fragmentation Mines ): Also referred to as directional fragmentation charges, Horizontal anti-personnel mines or directed charges. Triggered by trigger wire or electrical remote ignition. Slightly curved plastic body with legs for setting up in the field, or brackets for attaching to objects or trees. They work through a fragmentation charge in a predetermined direction. The best-known representative of the directional mines is the American M18 Claymore ; other well-known models of directional mines are about the Yugoslav MRUD, or the Russian MON series ( MON-50 , MON-90, MON-100, MON-200)
Similar weapons
- Booby trap
- Unconventional explosive device or incendiary device : a non-industrially manufactured booby trap ( IED )
- Self-firing system : a cone-shaped fragment mine with directional effect (official GDR designation), as it was installed on the GDR border barrier
Web links
- Developing world on the side of the ICBL ( English )
Individual evidence
- ↑ International Campaign to Ban Landmines - Treaty Status | The Treaty | ICBL. Retrieved March 3, 2019 .
- ↑ Landmine Monitor 2005, see also the map
